The Vernal Equinox of Beatifications?

Cardinal Angelo Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, has announced, on the heels of the recent beatification of Pope Paul VI, an exciting new candidate for beatification on the increasingly crowded Expressway to the Ever-Widening Gate of Heaven. It seems that Cardinal Walter Kasper, President Emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, has now introduced the cause of Annibale Bugnini, the architect of the highly-touted liturgical reform of Vatican II, to the Congregation. Kasper reportedly gave his permission to open an investigation into Abp. Bugnini’s virtues in response to repeated and urgent requests from Pope Francis and his inner circle.

Cardinal Kasper’s correspondence to the Congregation is rumored to elaborate on a little-known connection between Kasper and Bugnini that apparently developed during the recent Synod on the Family. Apparently Kasper had been praying repeatedly to the spirit of Abp. Bugnini – whom he, Kasper, considers to be the apotheosis of the “Spirit of Vatican II” - to ensure that the revolutionary draft language on homosexuals remain in the final Synod document, despite stiff resistance from “conservative” bishops. When this language was in fact retained in the final document, by the anti-collegial order of Pope Francis, Kasper was ecstatic at this miracle, and redoubled his zealous efforts on Bugnini’s behalf.

In his long letter to Cardinal Amato, Kasper, according to unconfirmed reports, cites the heroic virtues of Bugnini at length, particularly:

. His devotion and enthusiasm for the cause of aggiornamento, as displayed by his heroic perseverance in reforming the liturgy in the face of fierce resistance from Curial reactionaries such as Cardinals Ottaviani and Bacci, the two-thirds of the bishops who voted against his “Missa Normativa,” right-wing prelates such as Abp. Lefebvre, rebellious priests such as Fr. Gommar DePauw of the American traditionalist movement and the Abbe de Nantes, and even secular figures such as Tito Casini.

. His prophetic ecumenical vision, which led him to invite six Protestants, four Aztec dancers, and an aborigine with a straw hat, to serve as informal advisers during the development of the new Mass, and to consult Protestant liturgical books and the Talmud in great depth, decades before the Council.

. His clarity of thought, which formed the foundation of the new countersyllabus of universalism, religious freedom, collegiality, community, futile dialogue and free love.

. His kindly refusal to investigate repeated allegations of sexual misconduct among certain members of his Consilium, while invoking St. John the Baptist and the power of ancestral waters to protect them.

. The steadfast courage of his radical Christian discipleship, as he stripped the old Mass of Catholic theology and anything else which might offend Protestants, describing the result as “a major conquest of the Catholic Church.”

. His pivotal role in the collapse of the ghetto of Catholic tradition and the “razing of the bastions” called for by Hans Urs von Balthasar, by his embrace of all world religions, from Animism to Zoroastrianism to “I’m OK, You’re OK.”

. His profound humility and personal holiness, exemplified by his silent acceptance of being twice dismissed under suspicion of Freemasonry, by Popes John XXIII and Paul VI, as well as his prudential refusal to explain his apparent kissing of the Masonic “Book of the Royal Arch.”

. The widespread impact he had during his travels, especially during his final journey to Iran, where, exiled by Paul VI, he celebrated many inculturated Masses and sprinkled many a receptacle of water, flour and hummus on the sacred sands of the former Persian Empire.

In his summary of these virtues, Cardinal Kasper reportedly hails this nomination as the “next logical step” after the beatification of Paul VI, dismissing those who raise the Masonic objection by referring to Bugnini’s devotion to his pectoral cross, which he received from Archbishop Rowan Williams. “It is high time,” His Eminence allegedly adds, “that the Church started casting her nets on the left side of the boat. Who knows how many saintly souls are to be found in those waters? At least 153, I’d venture.”

Meanwhile, Cardinal Amato, according to private sources, is grappling with one thorny procedural problem in this process, namely, how to raise Servants of God to the altars, when, thanks largely to the work of Bugnini, altars are no longer in use…